particular political/etc beliefs you have that are counter to your more general affiliations

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Except for me, who is an anthroplogist in training, and therefore actually does have a bit of an in-depth knowledge of cultures. Enough to say that, at least, each one has its pitfalls, and saying one is "superior" to another in any way is kind of a bogus statement. Here's some cons of Western Culture:

- Profound obsession with consumerism
- Media saturation and fear-mongering
- Dependence on "superiority" to other cultures to justify own actions
- Lack of tolerance for alternate ideas of sexuality, gender, etc.
- Lack of multilingualism aside from romance languages
- Lack of environmental concern
- Dependence on agriculture
- Perceived incompatibility of various religions and philosophies (Science vs. religion, Islam vs. Christianity, etc.)
- Dependence on debt
- Conservative view of marriage
- Conservative view of sexuality and gender
- Ignorance of alternative approaches (Why are there so many "Culture Bound Illnesses", but Anorexia Nervosa is its own psychiatric category?)
- The fact that sharing needs to be taught to children and heavily emphasized instead of just being naturally learned
- Idolization of certain ideals without rationale (Economic growth, modesty, material wealth)

The point being, every culture has things that are "wrong" with and things that are "right", and simply having more things that are "right" than "wrong" doesn't make that culture superior, especially if the "wrong" things happen to be pretty bad themselves.

i don't think we really understand 'non-western' cultures as much as we like to think because most of our experience of non-western cultures is based off the commodification of other cultures. when you say 'japan' everyone thinks 'oh ramen, anime', nobody thinks of the real japanese political and cultural differences. i think there is no point in dreaming of living in a non-western culture simply because we don't actually know anything about them

It really depends on the person. I've been raised in one culture (Colombian) but am surrounded by another (American) and most of my friends are in the same boat. So for us the whole cultural relativism is very much a real, every day thing. But yes, for a lot of people it's based on commodification and that's incredibly silly.

Cultural relativism is used a lot as a talking point about how we can't make judgments about other cultures, but that's not what the term means at all. Using it to excuse the crazy shit people do is something I'm very much against.

Originally Posted by God

well surely everyone has the right to be offended about whatever they want, but the current culture of political correctness at large all but encourages people to get offended at any remark they might take as a slight against some sort of minority characteristic they hold. like back in 2005 how don imus got fired for making a joke about calling some black basketball players "nappy headed hoes." now honestly i STILL dont really know who the fuck don imus is, but the fact that it turned into a national outrage and he got fired was ridiculous. people shouldnt give a shit about people saying racial slurs in jest etc. certainly they have the right to give a shit about it, but they really shouldnt, certainly not to that level. on an episode of the daily show last week i think there was a segment about how some south carolina politician said that nicky hailey(or however its spelled) needs to "go back where she came from" and it was spun as if it were something that should be offensive to immigrants. when really calling for unpopular politicians to "go back where they came from" is something that has always been said in politics when they want to get someone out of office. micro-examples but you get what i mean.

the culture of political correctness actively encourages people to be sensitive about whatever little thing they can think to be sensitive about. i hate to agree with conservatives but it really does encourage a feeling of victimization.

it also goes both ways politically however. people who dont want evolution taught in schools should be able to be outright called idiots. republican talking points that are completely void of factual basis should not have to be considered as serious ideas. the idea that we cant call people idiots or call abjectly wrong beliefs wrong is also very much a symptom.

I think a lot of the issue comes from people who harp on about political correctness distract from the larger, actual problems. But throwing a fit over some harmless joke is a lot easier for a lot of people than actually trying to combat real issues.

Originally Posted by God

if i was still a radical communist i would say identity politics has been a tool of the rich to divert people from being conscious of their only true identity, class identity.

But class identity has been historically linked to gender and racial identity.

Also, Timmy, I know this thread is supposed to be about beliefs you have that counter your general affiliations, but can you really say that western culture is the superior method when Marx and Engels literally spent thousands of pages tearing it down?

marx and engels spent several thousand pages describing history in terms of class struggle and economic development, making heavy use of western philosophical tradition in the process most notably of course the hegelian dialectic. of course the bad things about western culture are, well, bad, but what i mean is that the west has clearly produced the most impressive works of art, the overwhelming majority of scientific and intellectual advances in near every area imaginable, built the modern world, developed better political systems ahead of everyone else and is generally much more permissive socially in regards to lifestyles and individuality than any other macro culture.

"I'll go," said Chagataev. "But what will I do there? Build socialism?"
"What else?" said the secretary.

i think political correctness is ok. when it's bad it's particularly egregious and silly (like prophet mohammed cartoons, etc.) but mostly it's just a move towards a universally-inclusive language that has the effect of making people less bigoted in the long-term.

i'm from an area of the uk which is highly racist and unaccepting to other cultures. my town has a high concentration of asians. political correctness tells us not to refer to them as 'pakis', a highly offensive word with heavily negative connotations.

yes, people feel as if "political correctness" is imposing on them and censoring them unfairly, preventing freedom of speech etc. but the people here are so bigoted that creating a structure which tells them that 'paki' is bad makes them in turn think about their racist, downright silly views. of course they can utter racial slurs in the comfort of their own home and that's really the only place they need to utter them.

the overwhelming majority of scientific and intellectual advances in near every area imaginable

Thanks to industrial pressures, and in turn these advances are used for industry, and we all know how that'sturningout. I'll admit medicine is one area where the western world absolutely outstrips any other, but I suppose every culture's got to have one big thing.

Originally Posted by God

built the modern world

SHAPED the modern world. And in turn subjugated every other culture to be subservient to western culture. I guess in that way western culture is "superior", but I'm not certain that makes it any better.

Originally Posted by God

developed better political systems ahead of everyone else

Because of our need to divide up lands into "nation states", a notion so backwards from actual human behaviour that we require an entire complex bureaucracy just to maintain its legitimacy. Not to mention these "better" political systems have caused the most wars, genocides, and international tensions since Rome collapsed.

Originally Posted by God

and is generally much more permissive socially in regards to lifestyles and individuality than any other macro culture.

This is a pretty iffy statement. We do have lots of freedoms regarding our values in certain areas, like religion, certain forms of sexuality, and free speech. Other areas are still very much socially stigmatized - polyamoury, anti-nationalism, alternate forms of food, poverty and people in debt, feminism, and a lack of consumerism.

That last one is especially strange. People who never actually own a house but simply pay rent their whole lives and live comfortably without buying much will face social stigma and derision. To say we're free from culture's prejudices is very naive.

that sort of thing is rampant through all academia, because it is a dim-witted bastardization of cultural marxism that anyone can understand and expound and gives people an excuse to feel like crusaders for justice while actively detracting from finding real solutions to social problems

"I'll go," said Chagataev. "But what will I do there? Build socialism?"
"What else?" said the secretary.

i think military and cultural dominance is a very stupid ambition, but being enthusiastic about your country's own culture and non-hegemonic impact on other cultures is ok

While country and culture tend to go hand in hand theres a lot of rewritten national boundaries that've scattered ethnic stuff like that around. Being proud of your culture and heritage is definitely cool though.

western culture only rose to dominance because of technological superiority, and said technological superiority is not an inherent result of western culture (you of all people should understand this, god - youve read guns germs and steel). its likely that any society which would have gotten to the level of modern day technological sophistication would resemble current western culture in a lot of ways with regard to individual freedoms, political systems, etc because you wouldnt have that level of progress without those sorts of societal norms. also wtf theres really no such thing as 'western culture', at least not in a historical context. would you really categorize ancient mediterranean societies, renaissance europe and 21st century america under the same cultural label? i wouldnt.